Global Education Management Systems Ltd to invest $650 million in education in Africa and other emerging regions

A Dubai-based company, Global Education Management Systems Ltd (GEMS) plans to invest $650 million in to emerging markets, and it has identified Africa as one of such markets. It plans to do this over the next five years in what it has called a global expansion push.

GEMS Education is an international education company that owns and operates high performing schools. It also offers consulting services to both the public and private sectors. “In terms of our next three to five years in terms of the global expansion… we are looking at investing anywhere between $550m and $650m,” GEMS Group Executive Director Dino Varkey said.

Global Education Management Systems Ltd currently operates private schools in ten countries, and plans to grow its base to spread across between 25 and 40 countries in the next five years, in an intensive investment and expansion push.

GEMS opened its first private school in Kenya this year, and plans intensive growth across the African continent as part of its investment scheme, as demand for private schooling increases on the continent. The company already plans to launch schools in Ghana, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.

Explaining the focus on Africa in terms of the company’s expansion plans, Varkey says: “You are talking about the second fastest growing region over the last decade…Over 30m new households have joined the consumer class so obviously [there is] a fast rising middle class that’s highly ambitious and aspirational in terms of their children’s education.”

The schools-operator also has plans for the North Africa region, with potential new school locations including Egypt, Libya and Morocco.